Shane stomped on the brakes while Tess swiveled her attention to the roadside. Tension whipped down her body as she drew her gun from the holster at her side. Two men dressed in black, faces covered with ski masks, ducked into the brush on the left. But not before she glimpsed their weapons.
The tires thumped as the Lexus drove over a barbed chain that had been thrown across the road. The car slowed, coming to a stop a few yards away from the spiked roadblock.
Tess yelled, "Get down," as a shot hit the driver side window. "Stay put and call 911."
Tess, hunkered down below the window, opened her door and slipped out of the car. Adrenaline surged through her as she low walked toward the front of the hood. When another shot blasted the air, she popped up and returned fire, sending the masked thugs into a ditch. Tess scrambled toward the rear of the Lexus to keep the two assailants guessing.
As she got off another round, in the car Shane poked his head up and squeezed off a shot. He must've grabbed the spare weapon in her purse. Tess gritted her teeth. What part of stay put did he not understand?
A bullet whizzed by her head, then another shattered the side window behind Shane. Their assailants continued raining bullets down on them as though they had an endless supply of ammunition. Tess didn't. On her, she had one extra clip while the rest of her ammo was in the duffel bag in the trunk.
She heard a distant siren coming from the south and thanked God that help had been close by. Suddenly, the two men burst from their hiding place and, with guns firing repeatedly, made a mad dash toward a dirt road a hundred feet north of their position. Tess wanted to go after them and put an end to this, but her primary job was to protect Shane. After getting off a couple more shots, she squatted by the hood of the Lexus until finally, silence reigned.
The sound of another siren, further away, came from the north. She peered around the front and saw a black pickup truck. It looked like the one that had been parked next to Uncle Jack's Jeep when she'd hiked down from the cabin. The truck zoomed out of the dirt road and sped north. She tried to read the license number, but mud obscured it. All she could see was that it was a New Mexico plate. As the pickup disappeared from view, she checked on Shane. When she climbed into the front seat of the Lexus, her heartbeat pulsated against her skull from the gunfire exchange.
Shane slowly straightened from a slouch, her Glock still in his hand, shattered glass sliding off him. He looked at her, his face pale. She took her gun from him and stuffed it back in her open purse.
She had a few words for Shane, but she clamped her lips together as one of the sheriff's cars arrived from the south. She stepped out of the Lexus, holstered her weapon, and walked around the car. All four tires were flat. Bullet holes riddled the white finish. If there'd been any doubt about someone wanting Shane dead, it was gone now.
Shane exited his Lexus as a deputy walked toward them. Tess relaxed for the first time. She knew the man.
"Are you Mr. Burkhart?" the officer asked as he took in the Lexus as if it had been in a war zone.
"Yes." Shane took out his wallet and showed the deputy his license.
"You called 911?" When Shane nodded, the deputy continued. "What happened?"
Shane pointed at the spiked roadblock stretched across the pavement. "I couldn't stop in time. Two men over there," he indicated the area, "fired on us. When they heard your siren, they ran off that way." He pointed north to the dirt road, obscured partially by the vegetation. "Got into a black pickup and took off north."
"Good thing I was nearby when I received the call." The deputy, a friend from high school named Brady, shifted his attention to Tess and smiled. "Are you on a job?"
"Yes. He hired me today. We were leaving Uncle Jack's and going to his house."
"Is Jack at the ranch? You aren't going anywhere in that car." Brady blew out a slow whistle as he inspected the Lexus again.
"No, he's in the mountains."
A second patrol car from the north pulled up, and Captain Paul Daniels exited his vehicle. He was a good friend of Uncle Jack's, but then he knew a lot of the law enforcement officers in the area, especially Maricopa County's District Six.
"Maybe you or Paul could give us a ride back to the ranch. I can use my uncle's truck." She nodded toward the captain, who stopped next to her.
"I'll do that, Brady, while you process the crime scene." Paul pushed his cowboy hat up on his forehead and examined the Lexus. "Tess Miller, trouble follows you everywhere. It's good to see no harm was done to you two. Not from lack of trying, from the looks of this car."
"Tess, did you or Mr. Burkhart get a look at the assailants?" Brady moved toward the area where the attackers had hidden.
"They had ski masks on, but one was about six feet and the other five nine or ten. Both had a stocky build. Paul, you should have passed the black truck as you came down the road."
The captain squinted north. "Nope, but there are several other dirt roads they could have turned onto. I'll have another deputy check them out. Did you get a license number?"
"No, but it was a New Mexico plate. The numbers were covered except"—Tess visualized the speeding truck—"the last number was nine, I think."
"At least that's something to go on." The captain pulled out his cell phone and placed a call.
Brady continued his trek toward the area where the two assailants had hunkered down in a ditch that had offered them some protection from Tess's return fire.
While Shane talked with Captain Daniels, giving him more details of what went down, Tess followed Brady. Her friend examined the ground, careful not to disturb any evidence, while Tess stood back on the pavement.
Brady crouched down even further. "Looks like blood. Did you hit one?"
"I don't know. Everything happened fast. Most of the time I was pinned down. But if that's human blood, it's most likely one of the assailants."
Brady grinned up at her. "Then we may be able to track him down. If he's in the system."
Tess looked to where the two thugs had first hidden before she exchanged fire with them. A cigarette butt, leaning against a bush and partially in the dirt caught Tess's attention. "Look at that, Brady. It might belong to one of the assailants. This isn't the first time someone tried to kill Shane." Brady sat back on his heels and looked at her, his eyebrows raised. She told him the story of what had happened on the mountain.
When she was finished, Brady nodded toward the cigarette butt. "Good. Another piece of evidence we might be able to use. From the looks of that Lexus, these scumbags meant business. I'm glad Mr. Burkhart hired you."
She glanced back at the shot up Lexus. When she thought of what could have happened if Shane had been alone returning to his house, Tess shivered.
#
Late that afternoon, Tess entered Shane's mansion. Just the foyer of his house was the size of half her apartment in Dallas. Straight ahead, a grand staircase of rich mahogany swept to the second floor. A matching round mahogany table stood in the center of the marble floor near the entrance. A large bouquet of fresh flowers, various varieties in many colors, drew Tess's gaze. Their sweet fragrance sprinkled the air, making her forget for a few seconds why she was here.
She circled the entry, peering into an elongated living room, decorated in an elegance that complemented the dining room, which lay across the foyer. Twelve people could sit at a massive table and enjoy a meal together.
"My wife decorated this area to entertain business associates. I rarely use these rooms. Come on. I'll show you around before I take you to your bedroom."
Tess looked at the rooms one more time. "Your wife had good taste."
"Yes, Elena did."
She followed him past the staircase, down a long hall, and into the den.
The first thing Tess saw was a beautifully carved dark mantel with a portrait of a stunning woman with auburn hair. Elena. "How did she die?"
He stared at his wife's portrait. "A drug reaction. All my money, and I couldn't do a thing to help her. Her sodium level plummeted, and the doctors couldn't turn it around. I was on a business trip. As soon as I heard she'd been taken to the hospital, I came home as fast as I could." He swallowed hard. "I didn't make it in time. I should have been there for her. The housekeeper found her delirious. If I'd been here, I might have been able to get her help in time." He blinked several times and wrenched his gaze away. "I don't usually share that story, but with all that has happened in the past days ... "
"I guess getting shot at would bring a lot of things to the surface."
"You were in danger today because of me. Maybe this isn't such a good idea."
She held up her hand. "It's my job to protect you."
"I know, and I'm alive today because you did, but I can't take another person's life in my hands."
"Is this because I'm a female? Would you have said that if I were a man?"
He studied her for a long moment. "Elena had the same color hair as you do." His attention swiveled to the portrait. "I didn't think about it until now. I—"
Tess stood in front of Shane. "We look nothing alike except for that. There are a lot of people with auburn hair, but if you want to get another bodyguard, I understand. I won't leave, though, until the replacement shows up."
Shane shook his head. "No. I just think what happened this afternoon is finally catching up with me. I learned two things today. First, someone definitely wants me dead. Second, you're certainly capable of protecting me."
Tess nodded her acknowledgement. "Where's your housekeeper? I want to meet her and then finish the tour."
"Probably in the kitchen, fixing dinner. She and her husband have a suite of rooms off the kitchen. C'mon. I'll introduce you, then show you where you'll be staying."
"I want to be in the bedroom next to yours."
"That's fine. I thought you might and had Anna prepare it for you."
"You were that sure I would accept?"
Using his cane, he limped toward the hallway. "No, but I did a lot of praying that you would. I know when I need help. My expertise is in computers, not protection. That's why I promised to do what you say."
Staying where she was, Tess pressed her lips together. When he turned at the entrance and saw her standing there, one of his eyebrows arched.
"This is what it looks like to stay put. Earlier today, you returned fire. That was my job, not yours. I know what I'm doing."
He strode back to her, his arm stiff at his side while his fingers curled then uncurled. "I know how to shoot, and if a gun is available, I'm capable of helping. If you need a demonstration of my abilities with a weapon, I'll be glad to give you one. I often hike in remote places, and I always carry a gun as protection and hope I never have to use it." His bearing gave off waves of self-assurance as though he were in a boardroom issuing orders to his employees.
"Then why do you need me?"
"I'm no expert, just because I can fire a gun. I will do as you say unless I don't see the logic in it. I respect your abilities, but that doesn't mean I can't help defend myself. I won't be a passive client. Do you have a problem with that?"
Her first impulse was to head for the door and return to Uncle Jack's ranch. She scanned the den while trying to calm the anger bubbling to the surface. Her attention landed on a photo of Shane with a teenage girl who had his coloring but looked like Elena. The picture of him with his daughter melted her irritation. She'd dealt with worse clients, people who continually got in her way. She could deal with him. She wouldn't let anything happen to him, because Shane was the only parent Rachel had. That was motivation, if nothing else, but after what happened on the highway earlier, she wouldn't have walked away, even if he were childless.
She returned her focus to him. "Then I suggest we get to know each other, because this won't work if we're second guessing each other."
"Agreed. And you are the expert, but I'm not helpless."
She smiled. "Even when you were in the cabin, I knew you weren't helpless."
A sparkle gleamed in his gray eyes. "If a wounded man stumbled into my cabin with cuts and bruises and torn clothes, that wouldn't be the first thing that would come to mind for me. I bet there was a time you thought I was probably a criminal."
"It was that dark stubble of a beard, a couple of days old, that cautioned me. I certainly didn't think you were the CEO of a big corporation." She winked, then sauntered into the hallway and waited for him to show her where the kitchen was.
Shane passed her in the corridor. "Anna and Kevin think you're a special friend visiting. The only person who knows who you really are is my head of security."
"Don't you think they'll wonder why I roam around the house in the middle of night, checking doors and windows?"
"They'll just have to wonder. I love both of them, and they've been with me for many years, but Anna can't keep a secret, and I'm afraid she'd let something slip, especially when my executive assistant is here tomorrow." He paused near a door, closed the space between them and leaned in to whisper, "If you roam the house in the middle of the night, when are you going to sleep?"
Her pulse rate spiked from his nearness, but she didn't step away. "That depends on your security system, which I need to see in this tour."
"I bring a woman home, and the first thing she looks at is my security system. What do you think Anna and Kevin will think then?"
Tess chuckled. "Tell them anything you want. Tell them I have this thing about staying in a house that doesn't have a good security system, that I feel better after I see how safe a place is."
He tossed back his head and laughed, a deep belly kind. "They'll think you're strange, and I'm just as strange for falling for you."
The sound of his merriment urged her to join in, but she had to focus on business, not pleasure. "I figure they already think you're strange, bringing a woman home right after your daughter leaves, especially one they haven't heard about."
He sobered. "They'll be tickled. Anna has been trying to get me to date again. She's taken me to task for working twenty-four/seven and was the one who was happy when I decided to go for the hike that led to this." He swept his hand toward his injured leg.
Suspicion pricked her. "She was? How long have she and Kevin been working for you?"
"Since I married Elena."
"How about your executive assistant?"
"Ten years."
"And Nick Compton?"
"Five years. He started right after he left the army."
"Interesting."
"I know that tone. You think one of them could be involved. I think I know the employees who work closely with me better than that. Next, you're going to ask about my daughter."
Her eyes widened at the fierceness in his voice. "I have to suspect everyone. You don't."
The door behind Shane opened, and a petite woman no more than five feet tall with salt and pepper hair pulled in a tight bun at her nape fixed her gaze on them. "What's taking you so long to bring her in to meet me? You two have been out here for five minutes. I thought I raised you better than that, Shane."
"Raised you?" Tess murmured as she came around from behind Shane to greet the housekeeper.
"Yes, she was my nanny years ago, and later, I convinced her to come work for me. Anna, this is ... my lady friend, Tess Miller."
The way he said lady friend as though it were true made her face heat. Tess shook the older woman's hand. "He's been telling me all about you."
"That's good, because until this morning, I didn't know you existed." Anna eyed Tess as though the housekeeper was inspecting the vegetables at the market. "And just so you know, I'm not ancient. He has been responsible for my gray hairs. He was the first and only child I was ever a nanny for." She swung her attention to him. "And what happened to you this week put a few more gray hairs on my head." As she turned and disappeared into the room, she added, "Come in and have some tea with me before I start dinner."
"She rules the house, not me," he whispered.
"Really? I would never have known that. You can run along. I'll probably get your life history by the time I finish my tea."
"You're supposed to be guarding me, so that's best done by my side."
That declaration heightened the heat of her blush. She shouldn't have taken this job. Only a few more days until the merger went through, and then he could have two big burly bodyguards plastered to his sides.
"The tea is getting cold." Anna carried the tray with the cups and the teapot on it to the kitchen table.
Tess entered the kitchen with Shane slightly behind her, almost touching. He could be clear across the room, and she'd be aware of his location—even if she weren't his bodyguard.
"Just so you know, Anna loves to embellish some of my childhood."
"Thanks for the warning. This should be interesting." Tess turned a smile on Anna, intending to discover as much as she could about the man who piqued her interest far beyond the job.
#
Early the next morning, before anyone was up, Tess prowled the ground floor, checking doors and windows, more as something to do than thinking they might be unlocked. Shane's security system was excellent. He had said his head of security was responsible for making sure his house was protected. She would thank Neil Compton when she met him. He and Diane Flood, Shane's executive assistant, were coming out today.
Tess paused at the large window that overlooked the front of his estate. It had a high wall around it and a sturdy gate, requiring visitors to call the main house to be buzzed in. Although no place was totally secure, it would be easier to guard him at his home. If Shane never left until the merger was announced, he should be safe. In two days, though, he had to attend the big party at the VT's president's house. That might present a problem. She'd have to glue herself to Shane's side and pretend for a whole room full of people they were a couple while watching for someone to make a move against him.
"You're up early."
The husky voice of the man who'd haunted her dreams last night cut into her thoughts. She turned toward him, hidden in the shadows by the entrance into the living room. But she felt the intensity pouring off of him and the drill of his gaze. She sucked in a deep breath and held it for seconds longer than usual.
"Is everything okay? Did something disturb your sleep?" Shane moved into the muted glow of the lamplight. Dressed in jeans and a long sleeve navy blue pullover, he looked comfortable and casual in the midst of the elegant room. His hair was tousled, as if he'd finger-combed it, and he was barefooted.
"It's four. I got five hours of sleep. That's all I need."
"That's about all I require, too."
Another thing they had in common. After her conversation with Anna yesterday, she'd learned she and Shane liked a lot of the same things: hiking, roughing it in the wilds, photography, coffee, pecan pie. She'd seen some of his photos as she'd toured the house and was impressed with how he could capture a scene at its essence. She'd recently taken up photography, because she traveled so much and saw some beautiful places. So she often took a couple of days to tour wherever she'd been working after her job was over.
Tess realized she'd been staring at Shane. What had he said? Oh, yeah. Sleep. "When I work, I sometimes sleep less," Tess finally said when she realized she was staring at him and a long silence had fallen between them. "I see your daughter likes to ride horses."
He came to her side. "Likes? Oh, no. Love is a better word. And at my parents' she'll get to ride a lot."
Tess shut the drapes and edged away from the window, so Shane wasn't exposed. "I got that feeling when I saw all the riding trophies in her bedroom."
"Do you like to ride?"
"Love is a better word for me, too. Every time I go to Uncle Jack's, I ride a couple of times a day, often with my uncle. That's one of the things I miss the most when I'm working, so I probably overdo it when I'm back in Phoenix."
"I have a small stable where I keep four horses. We could—"
"As much as I'd love to, I'd rather you not leave this house until we have to." It wasn't just about his security. If they rode together, it would just give them another thing in common.
"You think someone is out there?"
"Could be."
"I'd never thought of my home being anything but a safe haven."
"That's what I thought about the cabin. A retreat for me."
One of his eyebrows arched. "But not now?"
"Nowhere is completely safe. It's hard not to realize that in my line of work, but with the cabin, I put the outside world behind me. It was me, nature and sometimes Uncle Jack."
"And I ruined that for you." He reached out and touched her arm. "I'm sorry."
"I wouldn't have wanted it any other way. That's the only cabin around for several miles. You needed ..." She couldn't finish that. This job was more than just bodyguard and client. Lord, what are You doing? I've never had this much trouble separating my professional and personal lives.
"I know I needed you. I'm just lucky I didn't fall over a cliff to the valley below." He stepped closer and took her hand. "No words can express my gratitude to you and your uncle. My daughter has already lost her mother. I couldn't let her lose her dad, too. She took Elena's death so hard."
The sadness in his voice made her think about her mother. She knew how he felt.
His hands framed her face. "You okay? Have you lost someone close to you? You never talk about your parents. Just your uncle."
She needed to back away, but the look of concern in his eyes touched a chord deep inside her, strengthening a bond that had begun forming from the moment he stumbled into the cabin. "My mother killed herself. She drank too much and mixed alcohol with pills. I couldn't do anything to save her."
"Is that why you protect people now?"
Is it? "I was attacked in my home when I was sixteen. I think that's what really made me want to protect others. I couldn't defend myself. It took months to recover. That's when Uncle Jack insisted I come live with him and Patricia in New York. Then he started teaching me to defend myself."
"Where was your father when all this happened?"
She stiffened and pulled away from him. "Drunk."